Sometimes the best things are in your own backyard,
literally. Last summer when the
State Journal-Register headlines in Springfield,
Illinois, read “Collecting All Things Coke,” I stopped to read the whole
article. Despite a health-nut boyfriend I used to have, I drink Coke. Sometimes
two cans a day! But the article wasn’t about Coke drinkers. It was about Coke
collectors. In fact it was about the national convention that was being held
right in my hometown of Springfield at the
Crowne Plaza on Dirksen Parkway.
On the last day of the convention, Saturday, July 19
th,
they were going to have a
Coca-Cola Collectors Club swap meet. My mom and I
decided to drop by. We couldn’t have been more surprised. There was a huge room
full of tables that were piled high with Coke memorabilia. There were plaques
and bottles and buttons. There were Christmas ornaments. There were toys and
polar bears. There were items that went on the market last year and pricey
items from decades ago.
The whole thing was amazing. I’ve collected a few Coke items
myself over the years. But these people are serious collectors! They had the
coolest stuff. As we walked around, surprised by the sheer amount of collectors
and collectibles, we could hardly decide which displays to look at first.
Another thing we noticed was that the collectors had come
from all over. They were from Chicago and Miami and Philadelphia. They were
from Texas and Wisconsin and New York. There were even participants from
France, Germany, and Japan! I had no idea that people went so crazy for Coke. I
thought I was the only one.
As I walked around with greedy eyes, a man selling Coke
baseball hats chuckled. “You can always tell the collectors from the tourists,”
he said. “The collectors walk around with smiles on their faces.”
I definitely had a smile. And I was glad I only had twenty
dollars on me. If I’d had forty, I would have spent that too. I couldn’t resist
the darling buttons from different countries or the Christmas ornaments with
elves.
“How can you part with any of this stuff?” I asked a couple
from the east coast.
“Believe me, we’ve got duplicates of all these things!” the
man explained.
By the time I left, I had brochures for the national
organization. Next year’s national convention? It’s going to be in Glendale, Arizona,
which is just up state from where I live in Tucson.
If I make it to the swap meet, I’m going to bring more a lot
more than twenty dollars!
